Cat Stevens - Tea For Tillerman

Ahh, Cat Stevens. Quick story about him. When I was a kid, I remember my parents playing this record fairly often. I loved 'Wild World'. It was one of few "old" songs that I loved as a really little kid. Then I got to college. My roommate picked up a greatest hits album by gool old Cat. He must have played that damn cd on loop for a month. Everytime I walked into the room it was on. I wanted to throw that disc out the window. He finally gave in on it, and it was the happiest day of my life. Anyways, Mr. Stevens was actually born Steven Demetre Georgiou and then changed his name to Yusuf Islam. Steven grew up in London, right above the Moulin Rouge restaurant that his parents ran. It was in 1969 that his life changed forever. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent many months in the hospital. Doctors thought he was going to die, and in fact gave him days to live at one point. He then spent a year in recovery, and that's when his perspective on life changed. He is quoted to say, "to go from the show business environment and find you are in hospital, getting injections day in and day out, and people around you are dying, it certainly changes your perspective. I got down to thinking about myself. It seemed almost as if I had my eyes shut". He converted to Islam in the height of his popularity in the 70s. Kind of crazy. If an artist did that now, especially in the US, I think there would be substantially more scrutiny surrounding it. This album has all the hoopla around it. 500 Greatest Albums of all Time, 1001 Albums to Listen To Before You Die, 5 star AM rating. All of it. I'll add to my list, I love it too. It's a really chill record, that's just fun to listen to. A classic at its finest here. HIGHLY encourage ya'll to listen to it today. Hopefully Cat is new to a few of you, and you can be tuned in to something great.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Where Do the Children Play?
2. Hard Headed Woman
3. Wild World
4. Sad Lisa
5. Miles from Nowhere
6. But I Might Die Tonight
7. Longer Boats
8. Into White
9. On the Road to Find Out
10. Father and Son
11. Tea for the Tillerman

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Wild World
2. Where Do The Children Play?
3. Miles From Nowhere

FINAL RATING:
4.5 out of 5 stars